Recovery Mechanisms
by scifislasher
Summary: -SPD- Sequel to 'Survival Mechanisms'. Healing is a long process and never easy, especially for those unused to asking for help. Being a ranger doesn't help either. JackSky. AU for the end of SPD.
1. Chapter 1

Recovery Mechanisms

Sometimes, Jack Landors thought in disapproval as he stared at the blank wall, life sucked. "You want me to what?"

"Help decorate," Sky repeated easily, handing him a paint roller. "If you're here you might as well help out."

"But--" It was no use. Sky had already turned away, paintbrush in one hand, can of paint in the other, bumping against his leg. Why was he doing this again? he wondered as he regarded the wall with a suspicious look. Oh yeah, he'd come over to spend time with Sky while he was on medical leave, that was why. He just hadn't expected to be roped into decorating while he was here. Still, if Sky was focusing on this he wasn't thinking about the events of the past few weeks. They still didn't know what had happened to Sky while he'd been missing and the not knowing was what ate at him. He knew that the Commander had taken over the case personally, knew that the Sirian knew more than he'd told the rest of them and that knowledge made him want to scream with frustration. How was he supposed to help if he didn't have all the facts?

On the plus side, he reluctantly conceded, the bruises on Sky's wrists were gone, as were most of the other physical signs of trauma, save the circles under his eyes that spoke of too much nightmare-haunted sleep. Fortunately there hadn't been any more transformation scares, that was something, he supposed. At least, Jack corrected himself, he was assuming there hadn't been any based on the lack of middle-of-the-night calls from Sky's mother. Nightmares Sky had in plenty, but so far it seemed that was as far as it went, and Jack was cautiously hopeful that they were past the danger point.

Sighing, he carefully dipped the roller in the paint by his foot and approached the wall with grim determination. He could do this. Just because he'd never decorated before in his life that didn't mean it was beyond him. He could do this. Stepping back he froze and closed his eyes as he stepped on the tray of paint. _Damn it_.

"Good thing we covered the floor," Sky said dryly behind him and Jack turned to find his boyfriend giving him a look that was part resigned amusement and part annoyance, which was actually pretty normal for Sky so Jack didn't comment. The sooner Sky was back to normal the better. He settled for giving the other man a half-hearted glare and sank into a crouch, trying to limit the damage he'd already done.

After that things went a bit more smoothly, Jack settling into the rhythm of painting the wall while Sky worked on the wood panelling. It was almost relaxing in a way, focusing entirely on the job at hand, not thinking about anything except vaguely noticing that his wrist was beginning to ache from the repetitive movements. He was pulled out of his reverie by a faint clatter as Sky put his brush down, carefully pouring more paint from the can into the tray. The frown of concentration on his face as he did so was oddly appealing and Jack couldn't resist. Strolling over to where Sky was crouched he waited until his boyfriend looked up, then lightly bumped the paint roller against Sky's nose.

Sky stared at him incredulously for a moment, then his mouth quirked in an impish grin that was all the warning Jack had before paint was flicked in his direction. Instinctively he phased out, hoping he wouldn't fall through the floor. He smirked at Sky before frowning at the chagrined expression on the other man's face. "What?" Sky jerked his chin at the wall and Jack turned round. There, splattered across the newly painted wall, was white paint, stark against the terracotta Jack had just put up. He winced. "Oops?"

"We'll have to wait for it to dry now," Sky said in resignation. "Then paint over it again."

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to do that the first time?" Jack asked in mock-severity, only half-joking. Sky simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay," he said brightly, "I think it's time for a break anyway." Maybe if he was lucky he could score some necking time on the couch.

-----

Shauna Tate edged her way in through the front door, shopping bags in hand, wishing she'd thought to take the boys shopping instead of leaving them to do the walls. The bags were _heavy_ and she could have done with the extra pairs of hands. She put them down with a sigh of relief and was about to close the door behind her when she realised the house was too quiet, no sound of the quiet bickering that characterised the interactions between the two young men.

Just then there came a soft groan and her eyebrows shot up. Sticking her head round the door to the main room it was to find the two of them on the couch, Jack sprawled on top of Sky, one hand curling in Sky's hair while he kissed his way down Sky's neck. Sky, for his part, had his hands fisted in the back of Jack's shirt. She stepped back from the door in amusement and went back to where she'd left the bags. Wincing, she picked them up against and leant back against the front door, closing it with a loud slam before walking back along the hall. There came the sound of hissed voices followed by soft thuds as they scrambled off the couch. She'd just got as far the main room as the pair met her at the door, distinctly mussed with overly surprised expressions on their faces.

"How's the work going?" she asked as they quickly took the bags off her and she watched with amusement as they flushed.

"Ah, fine," Jack started. "We were just, ah--"

"Having a drinks break," Sky finished quickly, ducking past her into the kitchen and dumping the bags on the floor.

"Decorating can be thirsty work," she agreed blandly and her son gave her a suspicious look that she met with an innocent smile. "I should let you get back to it, I suppose." She frowned as a small detail from before sank in and she stuck her head back into the main room. _Was that white paint splattered on the wall?_

"Accident with a paintbrush," Jack said quickly. "We're just waiting for it to dry so we can fix it."

She nodded. "Okay." Accident with a paintbrush her ass. More like a paint war that had got out of hand. The two nodded in relief and she let them get as far as the door before clearing her throat. They froze in place before turning back, markedly guilty expressions on their faces. "Seeing as you're having that break, I could use some extra hands to put these things away."

"Drinks break?" Jack hissed under his breath as he restocked the fridge, apparently assuming she was out of hearing range.

"I didn't hear you coming up with any better ideas," Sky hissed back.

"Something wrong, boys?"

"No!"

"No! We're fine."

"Good." Oh, it was fun being a parent sometimes.

-----

_And it was going so well_, Shauna thought in resignation as the electronic beep filled the room and two sets of eyes flickered to the morpher in Jack's pocket. But it had been due to happen at some point, she supposed. Jack pulled out the small black box and flipped it open. "Landors."

"Trouble at the docks," came a girl's voice. "We could use the help."

"I'm on my way," he replied, flipping the communicator shut again and moving towards the door. "Not you," he added as Sky went to follow.

"Jack--"

"You're on medical leave," Jack said pointedly. "Doctor Felix would have my ass in a sling if I let you go out there."

"Jack," Sky replied evenly. "I'm fine."

"Physically, yeah. I know. Not the point."

"But--"

"Don't make me make it an order, Sky, because I will if I have to."

She almost flinched as Sky's expression shut down. "Fine."

Jack glanced in her direction, expression just as unreadable as Sky's. "Sorry to run out on you," he said and she nodded briefly. He nodded back and was out the door a moment later.

Sky stared at the wall, not even watching as Jack left, his grip on the paintbrush tight. Outside there was the sound of a bike's engine starting up, then pulling out. The moment the engine faded Sky calmly put the brush down and stalked out the room. The atmosphere in the room could have been cut with a knife it was so thick and Shauna remained silent as her son walked past her without a word. For a moment she was furious at Jack for doing that to Sky, forcing him to stay behind when he wanted to be out there, but it was only for a moment. Jack hadn't liked doing that to Sky any more than she'd liked watching it, but she understood why he had.

It just wasn't fair, she thought. Getting back into the fighting wouldn't help Sky if he wasn't ready to go back, and despite what he said, she didn't think he was. On the other hand, knowing he was being left behind wasn't helping either and she couldn't come up with anything that might resolve the conflict. Squaring her shoulders, she picked up the paintbrush Sky had set down and went to work on the unfinished bit of wall.

-----

When Jack got back he rang the doorbell and waited uneasily. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to be received after that mini confrontation. He knew Sky would still be pissed, an hour and a half was nowhere near long enough for him to get over Jack coming so close to pulling rank on him, he just didn't know how Shauna would react now. He liked Sky's mother, they got on well, but she was Sky's mom first, everything else afterwards. He scowled at himself and shrugged, wincing a little at the ache between his shoulder blades; if she was angry, she was angry, there was nothing he could do about that, except maybe leave and come back later.

The door opened and Shauna gave him a wry smile. "Taken care of?" she asked and he nodded, somewhat nonplussed at the casual question.

"Ah, yeah. It's fine. All safely confined and everything."

"Good. Well, what are you doing hovering on the doorstep? We have work to do, remember?"

He grinned and went inside. Of course Shauna could be casual about having people skipping out to go blow things up; she'd been married to a red ranger, for God's sake. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to forget that, considering it was so much a part of Sky. Sky. He winced. "How much trouble am I in?"

Shauna gave him a faint smile. "He's in the attic."

He scowled at the non-answer, but nonetheless turned around to head up the stairs. Sky was leaning over a table, scowling at what looked like plugs, fingers deftly replacing a small object inside it. Checking fuses. "Hey," he said in greeting and Sky glanced up briefly, eyes flickering over him rapidly before he went back to the fuses without comment. Jack winced inwardly. "The guys say hi," he tried and Sky grunted something that probably passed for acknowledgement in Sky-language. "Checking the fuses, huh?" It was like beating his head against a wall for all the reaction he got. "Sky!"

"What?" the other man snapped, looking back at him with an annoyed expression. Jack opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. "Never mind," he muttered.

"What do you want me to say?" Sky demanded and he shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Well, when you make up your mind let me know. Then maybe you can order me not to argue with you."

Yeah, Sky was definitely still pissed. "I'm sorry, okay?" Jack said. "Pulling rank on you was a stupid thing to do, I know that."

"And yet you still did. I suppose there's logic in there somewhere."

"You're on medical leave," Jack stated from between gritted teeth. "Medical leave means you don't fight."

"I'm fine, Jack," Sky snapped. "There's nothing stopping me--"

"You're not fine," Jack interrupted and Sky halted mid-sentence, scowl deepening as he prepared to counter the blunt statement, but Jack pre-empted him. "Oh, physically, sure, there's nothing that means you can't fight, but the physical's only half of it."

"I'm not going to freeze or freak out in the middle of a battle!"

"You don't know that," he said softly and Sky swallowed before he looked away. He could have followed up with a comment about how going back to work too early could compromise the team, but Sky knew that already, it was why he no longer met Jack's eyes. Saying the words out loud would be simply one more low blow to add to his pulling rank earlier and he wasn't sure how many of those blows his relationship with Sky could take, especially now. In some ways the relationship between the two of them had strengthened and yet in others it seemed more fragile. Only time would tell if they really had the chance of going the distance or if it was just an illusion they were fooling themselves over.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Sky's return to SPD was greeted with a weird kind of restrained exuberance. Bridge, Syd and Z had hadn't seen much of Sky over the past month and most of their information on how he was doing came from Jack, so it was with a great deal of enthusiasm that they welcomed him back, the celebration only muted because anything too out there would have Sky shutting down instead of enjoying himself. If there was also a faint undercurrent of unease about what would happen if Sky freaked out instead of relaxing into the party, it wasn't mentioned.

Sky had cleared his physical without incident, if not without tension, so there was nothing medically speaking that would prevent him going back on duty. He'd also passed the mental evaluation, the biggest obstacle to resuming his active status as the blue ranger, which had left everyone heaving sighs of relief. On the surface things seemed to be back to normal.

-----

Sky walked along the corridors of the Delta base, mentally going over his timetable and making sure he had everything straight in his head. He'd only just got back so he didn't want to screw anything up because he'd gotten times or locations confused. Okay, so the chances of that happening weren't high, but it didn't matter, he just needed something to occupy his mind. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason the Delta base made him nervous, something about the walls, maybe, or the lights. He couldn't pin it down and he had the sinking feeling it had something to do with his two weeks of missing time, the two weeks he still couldn't remember anything of.

Those two weeks still weighed heavily on his mind, still had a hold on him, no matter how much he denied it. The only way he'd gotten through his inevitable physical had been to grit his teeth and force himself to remain calm, even when the very sight of the needle in Doctor Felix's hand made him want to scream. He'd set his jaw and refused to allow the panic out; panic wouldn't get him back on duty and he _needed_ to be back on duty. He had a sneaking suspicion that he hadn't fooled the doctor at all, but physically he was fine and they all knew it; it had been the psyche evaluation that had been the sticking point. Fortunately there'd been a break between the two and he'd managed to give Jack the slip long enough to let out the panic attack and pull himself together, although the latter had taken a great deal of willpower, before he saw the shrink. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd come out of that evaluation with permission to go back on duty, he'd been sure they'd recommend observation or something.

But they hadn't, he'd been cleared and that meant he was back where he should be. There could be no slacking off, he wasn't at home anymore. He had one moment of wistful regret over that fact; no more sleeping in, no more opportunities to do what he wanted when he wanted, no more casual moments with Jack. Now that they were both back on base it meant a return to how they'd been before. The rest of their squad might know about the pair of them by now, but that didn't mean they could afford to relax, they couldn't indulge themselves in anything less than professional behaviour, let alone lazy kisses on the couch where anyone could see them if they walked in at the right moment.

He walked past two girls in D Squad uniform, not paying any attention to them until he heard what could only be described as a giggle. He turned around with a frown on his face and the two shut up, hurriedly making their way around the corner. Eyebrows creased in annoyance and confusion, Sky continued on his way but only got more confused and annoyed when everyone he passed seemed to be giving him speculative looks and whispering when he'd moved past them. He was about to stop and call the most recent offender back, more than a little paranoid by now and determined to find out what had everyone so fascinated with him when he almost walked into Jack, the red ranger going in the opposite direction.

"Hey," Jack said in greeting. "I was looking for you. There's some things you should really catch up on now that you're back."

"Oh?" Sky frowned. He thought he'd already been briefed on everything when he'd first come back on duty.

"Yeah. Kinda important things."

"Okay," he said slowly, trying to figure out what Jack was getting at between the lines and coming up blank. He was distracted from the puzzle as three more cadets, no squad affiliation, came around the corner and headed in their direction. As he'd come to expect, the trio wouldn't meet his eyes but nonetheless seemed to find something interesting about him as they walked past. He was about to snap, call them back and demand an explanation, when he realised that Jack's expression was studiedly unreadable. Whatever was going on, he thought, Jack knew what it was, hence the cryptic comments he'd been trying to decode.

"We should finish this conversation somewhere else," Jack said pointedly and moved off along the corridor. Sky frowned and followed him, wondering what the hell was going on.

-----

"It's not you," Jack began, the doors of Kat's currently empty lab sliding shut behind them, and Sky frowned.

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, I know you. You were about to drag those kids back just now and demand to know why they were staring at you, but you don't need to."

"Because you're going to tell me?"

Jack shrugged. "Trying to."

"Not stopping you."

Jack rolled his eyes, then leant back against the nearby table, arms folded loosely. "They weren't staring at you, particularly."

"No?" Sky asked sceptically. "Strange, considering I've had people staring at me since I got back."

Jack sighed and his arms dropped to his sides. "Someone outed us," he said quietly and Sky went cold all over. They'd been outed? Who by? Since when? "So really," Jack continued, "they're not staring at you, so much as gossiping about the pair of us."

"Who outed us?" Sky asked, trying to get his brain functioning again. If everyone knew about them then… But it did make sense of a lot of things, like why everyone had been staring. They were probably wondering what they got up to and other things that were none of their business.

"Don't know," Jack replied shortly. "And believe me, I wish I did. Spent the past few weeks trying to figure it out."

"Weeks?" Sky asked. So this had been going on for a while. Why hadn't Jack said anything before? "This wasn't happening when I left."

Jack winced. "Yeah, it was. You just weren't in any shape to notice. You remember the night I spent in the infirmary?" Sky nodded. "Well, between the time I was kicked out not long after your physical and the time I went back, which was about…" he scrunched up his nose as he thought back, "four hours, word had gotten out. Now, I know the rest of the team wouldn't say anything, and neither would Kat or the Commander, so obviously somebody else found out. I just haven't been able to figure out who, yet."

"They're going to be watching us," Sky said slowly, the wheels turning in his mind. This had the potential to make things both easier and so much harder, and knowing their luck it would be the latter, things could never just be easy. Jack gave him an incredulous look.

"That's what you're worried about?" he demanded. "Someone outed us and you're worried that people will be _watching_ us?"

"I meant," Sky responded tightly, "that they'll be second guessing us. Every decision we make is going to be scrutinised."

"You say that like it's a new thing," Jack said lightly. "They've always been second guessing us, Sky, remember? We might have been the front line team, but as far as most people were concerned we were second string, just filling in until A Squad got back."

"Yeah, because that went so well," Sky muttered. A Squad was still something of a sore topic around the base, even now. It was as if no-one could quite comprehend the fact that rangers had gone bad, turned on their planet, himself included. It went against everything that had been ingrained in him since he was a child; power rangers protected their planet, protected the people. Yes, individual rangers had served evil in the past, but they'd always been brainwashed or manipulated or under a spell of some kind. For an entire team to just switch sides like that… he still couldn't get his head around it, even now.

"Hey," Jack said, thumb brushing over his cheeks to get his attention. "We can deal with this, okay? So we got outed, so what? Just means we don't have to hide anymore." Sky didn't say reply and Jack frowned. "Oh come on," he snapped. "You're acting like not having to hide this is a bad thing, and it's not. We shouldn't have to hide this, Sky, and now that everyone knows there's no reason to."

"There's every reason," Sky snapped back. "There're regs against things like this, Jack, and they're there for a reason. Squadmates aren't supposed to get involved in case--"

"In case they jeopardise the team," Jack finished. "I know. But in case you hadn't noticed, Sky? We haven't exactly done that."

"No?" Sky asked, a few nagging impressions falling into place. "You spent a lot of time at mine over the past month. How often were the others going out without you so you could keep coming over?" Jack stayed silent. "How is that not jeopardising the team, Jack?"

"If they needed me, they called," the other man replied defensively. "And I didn't even realise they were doing it at first."

"That's not the point," Sky said softly. "If the Commander thinks we're putting the team at risk he's got every right to separate us, even if it's only reassigning one of us to another squad."

"He's not going to reassign us," Jack countered, straightening from his slouch against the table and moving to stand in front of Sky. "He's not going to split up a team that works so well together just because we're breaking a couple of fraternisation regs."

"A couple?" Sky snorted. "Try all of them, Jack."

"Fine. So we're breaking the regs, so what? It's never been a problem before, it doesn't affect how we work together… I'm really not seeing the problem here."

"The problem is that no-one is going to believe we can work together, Jack," Sky said tersely. "There's going to be a lot of people wanting us reassigned."

"The only person who can reassign us is Cruger," Jack retorted. "And he's not going to. Why can't you just take the upside of this and go with it?"

"Why can't you see how badly this could go?" Sky snapped back.

"Do you always have to be so negative? This is a good thing, Sky, alright? Not having to hide, no more sneaking around and lying, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong with that. But inter-squad relationships--"

"Can work," Jack said firmly. "Unless this was something you were only happy with while no-one knew and now that everyone does, you don't want to know." Brown eyes bored into his, unreadable as the rest of Jack's expression. "And I really didn't think you were that kind of guy."

"It's not that!" Sky replied in frustration, turning away from Jack and closing his eyes, trying to regain some focus.

"Then what is it?" Jack demanded behind him and Sky felt his shoulders slump as he stared at the floor.

"I don't know," he whispered. "Nothing makes sense right now and this on top of everything else, I…"

There was a soft sigh behind him, then Jack was standing in front of him again, even though Sky hadn't even heard him move. Jack's hands came up to cup his face and lift his head up a bit, making it easier for Jack's mouth to find his. As he relaxed into the kiss, Sky felt the tension draining out of him and he rested his hands on Jack's waist, the other man solid and warm and everything he needed. He had to believe in Jack, there was no other choice. He couldn't have this taken away from him and if anyone tried, he would fight until the end to stop them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Sky tossed restlessly in bed, sheets twisted around him as he slept.

"_You are the beginning. Once we're finished with you, you won't remember anything of your former life."_

"_His mind is strong and he's resisting us."_

"_It doesn't matter. Dig deeper, take anything you can find."_

He opened his eyes to stark white light, so bright he could barely keep his eyes open._ "It seems we have an intruder. Fortunately the security system caught him before he got too far. It seems he was trying to rescue you."_

Jack's brown eyes stared back at him lifelessly and the world exploded.

-----

Jack turned over in bed and sighed in annoyance when he still couldn't get comfortable. Usually he didn't have any problems getting off to sleep, but tonight for some reason he just couldn't settle and he was constantly shifting, trying to get comfortable in the hopes that it might help. But it didn't. He just felt too tense to sleep, like something was hanging over his head, denying him rest.

His morpher went off and he grabbed for it immediately. "Landors."

"Jack." Bridge's voice was strained and Jack tensed; this couldn't be good. "Jack, I think you'd better come over."

"I'm on my way," he replied and threw himself out of bed, out the door a moment later.

When he reached Sky's room he was relieved to find no sign of the ghostly light that usually accompanied Sky's transformations, so whatever the problem was it didn't look like that was it. There were, however, any number of possibilities and none of them were pleasant. He forcibly reminded himself to knock on the door before he simply ran in and when Bridge answered, his voice was just as strained as before.

It was easy to see why, once he was actually inside the room. The green ranger was crouched by Sky's bed, trying to calm Sky as he tossed in his bed and not having much luck. Lines of pain were etched around Bridge's eyes and mouth and there were deep furrows creased on his forehead as he battled what had to be a killer headache. "I got it, Bridge," he said softly and the green ranger nodded, edging away slightly, relief washing over his face, followed quickly by guilt. Jack ignored both, more concerned with how he was going to get Sky out of the mother of all nightmares.

He reached out, but before he could close his fingers around Sky's the other man screamed, his body convulsing, shield lashing out from the unconscious form. Once again Jack found himself flying through the air to slam against the far wall and he landed in a tangled heap on the floor. "I hate it when he does that," he muttered, gingerly picking himself up. And damn, that was really starting to hurt a lot more than it should. Were those things getting _more_ powerful? "Bridge, you okay?"

"Is the room supposed to be spinning?" Bridge asked blearily as he slowly sat up.

"Don't think so, no."

"Oh, okay then."

Reaching out blindly, Jack patted the nearest part of Bridge he could reach, then got to his feet and stumbled back over to Sky's bed. Sky was surrounded by the blue light of his shield and Jack's heart sank. Sky couldn't keep this up forever, but unless he woke up soon his body would burn itself out to maintain the shield. Gritting his teeth and bracing himself, Jack plunged his hands through the shield to latch onto Sky's biceps. Pain exploded through his body as if every nerve were on fire; the price of countering Sky's powers with his own. He didn't do well with kinetic energy of any kind, it always left him feeling as if he on the verge of disintegrating, unable to hold his body together any longer and Sky's shields were the worst of the lot. It didn't matter. He needed to wake Sky up before he burnt out and if this was the only way then he'd take it.

He could feel Bridge at his shoulder and prayed the green ranger wouldn't try to help; right now any interference at all would only make things worse. Fortunately Bridge seemed to recognise that trying to help would do more harm than good and stayed back, but always close enough that he could jump in if he had to.

_Come on, come on,_ he thought. _Wake up already!_ He couldn't keep this up forever and already he could feel himself beginning to flag, his body screaming at him to rematerialise before it was too late. _Just a bit more, come on. You can do this._ There was no change, nothing to indicate anything was changing or was about to, then, just as he couldn't take any more, Sky's eyes flew open.

-----

He stared around the room wildly, panic running riot before he recognised his room at the base: the photo on the nightstand; Bridge's computer in the corner; Bridge supporting an ashen faced Jack. He blinked as that last one sank in, confusion pushing back the terror that had been so overpowering.

"What--?"

"You okay?" Jack asked, pushing himself back up to his knees, Bridge reluctantly letting go.

"Am _I_ okay?" he repeated. "What about you? You look like hell."

A ghost of Jack's usual cocky grin flashed across the other man's face. "Don't hold back, Sky, tell me what you really think."

"Jack…"

"I'm fine," Jack said, despite all evidence to the contrary. "What happened?" he continued. "What were you dreaming about? It looked pretty bad from where we were standing."

So _that_ was why Jack was here. Didn't explain why he looked so exhausted, but it was somewhere to start. Then he frowned as he thought back. He didn't know what he'd been dreaming about, he couldn't remember any of it anymore. Even the blind terror was fading. "I don't remember," he said slowly. It had to be about that missing time though. He couldn't think of anything else that would have this kind of effect on him. Jack sighed and braced his hands against the floor as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Yeah, I figured."

Sky bristled, then offended pride vanished as Jack lost his balance and fell against Sky's bed. "What the hell have you been doing?" he demanded, lurching forward to grab Jack before he could fall back to the floor.

"Bit of this, bit of that," Jack replied evasively, his exhaustion more than evident in his voice.

"He forced his way through your shields," Bridge said and Jack's head came up sharply, giving Bridge a look that teetered between betrayal and an annoyed glare.

"Bridge," he said warningly and Sky's roommate shrugged.

"Sorry, Jack," he replied, not sounding at all apologetic.

"Wait, what?" Sky broke in. "Someone want to fill me in?"

"Whatever it was you were dreaming about, you were shielding against it," Bridge said quickly, ignoring the glare on Jack's face. "Jack broke through it to try and wake you up before you burnt yourself out."

"Thank you, Bridge," Sky replied pleasantly before returning his attention to Jack. His boyfriend was looking distinctly sheepish with a side dose of defiance and if wasn't for the fact that he couldn't even stand up by himself, Sky would have had no qualms about slapping him upside the head. "What were you thinking?" he demanded. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? That's what Doctor Felix is for, you idiot."

"And if Doctor Felix gets involved, how long before people start wondering if you should be back on duty yet," Jack shot back. "Besides, we didn't know how much time we had before you started flipping out, best to take care of it while we had the chance."

Sky opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything Jack started to tilt off the bed again and Sky yanked him back. "You're still an idiot," he muttered.

"Love you, too."

-----

Jack opened his eyes and blinked blearily at the blue paint on the walls before it sank in that he wasn't in his room. Once he recognised that blue paint meant Sky's room then other things started demanding his attention, like the fact that the warmth he was lying next to was his boyfriend and that somehow his right ankle had got trapped between the edge of Sky's bed and Sky himself, which was uncomfortable as all hell. Then there was the added bonus of generally feeling like crap. He was still paying for forcing his way through Sky's shields last night and it would probably take at least the rest of the day before he started getting over that. It was only adding insult to injury that Sky's arm was wrapped around his waist, keeping him firmly where he was when Jack desperately wanted to go to the bathroom. While in theory he could phase out and get up that way, the very thought of using his powers left him feeling nauseous, so no, he wasn't going there.

He eventually managed to wriggle his way off the bed and padded into the tiny bathroom, coming out again a couple of minutes later, feeling a little more awake. He eyed the bed he'd just gotten out of and sat back down on it, working his way back under the covers. "These are so not made for two people," he muttered under his breath, squirming slightly until he got comfortable.

"Well, we aren't supposed to have people over, so they're only made for one person."

The voice came completely out of nowhere and Jack sat bolt upright with an undignified yelp, barely managing to keep himself on the bed. He glared at the other occupant of the room who was wearing a faintly sheepish expression. "Don't do that!" he snapped at Bridge, heart rate slowly calming down.

"Sorry, Jack."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, more than a little thrown by having witnesses to him waking up in Sky's bed, and wasn't _that_ hypocritical. He'd been pissed at Sky yesterday for being exactly this uncomfortable with the idea. He glanced at the object of his thoughts and was surprised to find that Sky hadn't so much as twitched, whereas a yell like the one he'd not long let out would have woken him more easily than practically anything else save the base alarms. He frowned in concern. Maybe last night had taken more out of Sky than he'd thought. But Sky was supposed to be over the nightmares by now; he'd sworn he wasn't having them and even Shauna had agreed the dreams were less frequent than they had been when Sky had first gone home. Was it simply being back on base that had triggered the dream last night? Or was it something else?

"Bridge," he said slowly. "What was Sky dreaming about last night?" If anyone would know, Bridge would. He switched his gaze from Sky to Bridge and found the green ranger giving him a disapproving look. "I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important, Bridge," he continued. "But Sky was fine until he came back on base. If there's a reason being back here's triggering everything off all over again then we need to know that and what it is, otherwise it'll never be over."

He could see the indecision on Bridge's face, torn between his ethics and his need to help his friend. He waited, not pushing Bridge to the answer he needed to hear. This was something Bridge needed to decide this for himself. Bridge sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Loss," he said quietly. "He lost someone he cared about more than anything." On that, Bridge's head came up and he fixed his gaze firmly on Jack. "He was dreaming about you."

Jack froze, his mind going blank. _He lost someone he cared about more than anything. He was dreaming about you._ The words echoed inside his head and he had no idea how to react. He'd never pushed, because with Sky you could never tell what he was feeling and finding that Sky felt less about this than he did would have been incredibly painful. He'd never let himself think that maybe Sky was just as involved as he was, better to ignore the subject than have to deal with the rejection that was sure to follow. There weren't a lot of things that scared him, but finding himself alone was the big one, one that he hadn't been willing to face. But apparently he needn't have worried. That just left him with the oh so tiny problem of working out what the hell he did now.

Bridge was still staring at him when he shook off the reverie, his gaze assessing. "Sky can't lose anyone else, Jack. He's lost too many people already."

"I'm not going anywhere, Bridge," he replied, stung and not a little betrayed by the implication that he wouldn't stick with this. He'd already had one confrontation about his relationship with Sky inside the team, and that was with Z over the supposed lack of trust he had in her, a lack of trust implied by his silence on the subject. Until they'd joined SPD they'd rarely kept anything from each other, and major things never. It was possibly the bitterest fight they'd ever had, made worse by the fact that they hadn't even been shouting at each other. He'd had a lot of excuses, but really it had all come down to one thing and that was that, despite his words the previous day, he hadn't _wanted_ to tell anyone; and that despite the constant sneaking around, it had been good having something that was just for him. That had been a difficult admission to make, he wasn't used to wanting things just for him. Strangely enough, that confession seemed to have been the mending point for Z, and over the weeks that had followed they'd rebuilt their relationship. It would never be the same as it had been before SPD, they'd taken a couple too many knocks for that over the past few years, but that was okay. They had other people to care about now.

Bridge nodded, then paused mid-nod. "I just had a bad thought. Well, more than one, because they all follow on, but they're bad and--"

"Bridge!" Jack interrupted. "It's too early in the morning, okay? My brain doesn't work that fast. You're going to have to spell it out."

"They knew what they were doing," Bridge said seriously.

It took a moment before Jack caught on. "Well, yeah," he replied. "They'd pretty much have to."

"No," Bridge countered. "I mean, they knew what would happen if they pushed Sky far enough. At least in theory," he added. "I don't think they expected him to break out."

"They expected him to become a Psycho Ranger?" Jack hazarded, unsure if that was where Bridge was going and not liking it at all if it was. His heart sank when Bridge nodded.

"They had to," Bridge repeated. "Why else would they take an active ranger? They'd want to know what it took to push someone active, for a baseline if nothing else. They'd want to know if they could break an active ranger."

"And now they know they can," Jack finished softly.

"Exactly. Just think about what they could do with a squad of Psycho Rangers, Jack."

"I'd rather not," he said lightly, fighting the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The idea of those people with a team, or worse, an army of Psycho Rangers was terrifying. A Squad had been bad enough, but this? This would make A Squad look tame. "SPD will need to warn all the former rangers they can get hold of," he said, thinking out loud. "Some of them still have powers, don't they?" Bridge nodded. "And even if they don't that doesn't mean they can't do exactly the same thing to them." He met Bridge's eyes and they shared a grim look.

"We need to talk to the Commander," Bridge stated and Jack nodded.

"Talk to the others first, though," he added. "See if we can hammer this out a bit more before we take it to Cruger. Assuming he doesn't know already. He was interrogating Dr. Kennedy, after all."

"But why wouldn't he tell us?" Bridge asked in confusion and Jack shrugged. It wasn't like Cruger didn't have a history of not telling them anything.

"Maybe he was waiting to see if we figured it out ourselves."

Bridge started to say something, but was cut off by Sky waking up and looking round at them in bleary confusion.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Sky stared fixedly at his book, not really seeing the words as his eyes skipped over them. It had been a long frustrating day, the kind of frustrating where you might as well be banging your head against a wall for all the impact you had. Overnight it seemed as if Jack and Bridge had come up with some _interesting_ theories about his two missing weeks, and while at first he'd been sceptical, the more he thought about it the more it made a sickening kind of sense. Eventually the five of them had put their heads together and hammered at the theories until they made a bit more _logical_ sense, with a little more than supposition behind them, and they'd taken it to the Commander. Who'd very calmly told them that SPD already had it covered.

He scowled at the page he was currently on as the memory of that conversation played back. Cruger was treating them like children, not to mention the subtle implication that he and Jack were being less than objective. The insinuation burned, of all people he'd expected the Commander to believe that the relationship between himself and Jack wouldn't compromise them or their ability to do their job. Clearly he'd been wrong. That realisation had set the tone for the day and everything seemed to go wrong after that. It was little things mostly; little, insignificant things that built up until he was ready to snap. He couldn't even concentrate on his book, damn it.

There was a quiet 'hi Jack' and a slightly louder grunt that was probably supposed to be a reply. He looked up to find Jack heading for the couches and he frowned a little in concern; Jack looked like hell, probably still feeling the aftermath of the previous night as well as the tiredness that came from a really long day. He'd been planning on calling it a night in a few minutes, but he'd been putting it off as long as possible, not wanting another night like the previous one. It looked, however, as if Jack were unconsciously helping out as he collapsed next to him. Or at least, he thought Jack had probably _meant_ to land next to him but somehow landed on top of him instead and he barely managed to rescue his book before it was crushed by Jack's weight sprawled across his lap.

"Comfortable?" he asked dryly and there was a contented hum, apparently the only reply he was getting right now. He glanced at his teammates, even now not used to them knowing about him and Jack, and found Bridge reading his comic like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Syd fighting back a smile and pretending she wasn't paying attention, and Z was smirking at him. He glowered back at her until her smirk grew slightly and she held up her hands in innocence. Sky returned his attention to his book, acutely aware of Jack's head resting on his lap.

One by one the others called it a night until finally only he and Jack were left in the rec. room, the soft sound of Jack's breathing the only noise in the quiet. "Jack," he said quietly, closing his book and putting it to the side, "get up. It's time for bed." There was no reply and he gently ran his fingers through Jack's hair. "Jack," he said again. "Come on. Bed time." Jack's head buried itself deeper in his lap and Sky sighed. If he didn't know better he'd swear Jack was being deliberately contrary. He did, however, know better and knew enough to tell when Jack was truly asleep and when he was just lying there. "Jack."

There was a muffled sound of protest as he tried to shift Jack off him and it was with a start of surprise that he found Jack had a death grip on his pant leg, holding on tightly, not to be budged. "Nowhere else," was the barely heard reply and it was a sharp kick in the gut for Sky. No wonder Jack could so easily fall asleep on top of him, he'd slept in far more uncomfortable places and he was clearly determined not to be moved, even in his sleep. Jack's life before SPD didn't come up very often, not anymore, but there were still occasions when it raised its head and now was one of them.

Still, Jack would be easier to move if he was still half asleep rather than jolted awake so Sky carefully shifted in his seat before beginning operations. "Okay then," he said, gently trailing his fingers down the back of Jack's neck, "time I got you into bed." He flushed as the words reached his ears and he was incredibly thankful that no-one else had been around, because that sounded way more suggestive than what he'd actually meant.

Manoeuvring a barely-awake Jack Landors, while difficult, was a lot easier than manoeuvring a fully awake and contrary Jack Landors, so all things considered it wasn't too hard getting the red ranger back to his room; the problems actually came from getting him into bed. Pleased with himself for getting the other man to his room without incident, Sky was caught completely off guard when Jack tugged him down onto the bed and promptly rolled on top of him again, very firmly keeping him in place and Sky was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to budge him a second time.

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" he asked the conveniently asleep red ranger and the only reply he got was Jack wriggling closer. Resigned to the knowledge that there was no way he was getting out of this, Sky decided he might as well make the most of it while he was here and he wasn't going to complain too much about having Jack sprawled on top of him anyway - heavy but not uncomfortably so - Jack's breath warm against his throat. He just hoped neither of them would regret this if he woke up screaming again.

-----

Much to his relief, Sky didn't dream that night and when he woke in the morning, comforting weight of a warm boyfriend beside him, he closed his eyes again for a moment, wishing he didn't have to get up. It was tempting to just stay like this, stay in a warm bed with Jack lying next to him and for a few minutes he allowed himself to indulge in the luxury. His eyes rested easily on Jack's face, tracing the by now familiar features, all traces of cockiness gone, replaced by an unusual serenity.

He didn't have many experiences of waking up with Jack, but there were some things that remained constant. For one thing, Jack was incredibly still; for another, he curled up tightly around himself, as if he were trying to either fit himself into a small amount of space, or he was trying to take up as little space as possible. The distinction between the two was a fine one, but one Sky had never been able to completely work out. Jack was a very quiet sleeper, and, for all that he wasn't a morning person, if he was woken suddenly he woke ready for anything. The habits of a lifetime weren't so easily lost, Sky supposed. On that thought Sky sighed regretfully and went to sit up, sheet sliding down to pool at his waist as he did so.

"Where you going?" Jack mumbled and Sky started in surprise, he'd thought Jack was still asleep.

"Back to my room," he said pointedly. "You know, where all my clothes are?"

Sleepy brown eyes opened to ramble over him in bleary examination. "You're still in your uniform."

"Exactly," he replied. "I slept in this thanks to a certain person who shall remain nameless; I can't wear it today."

If Jack heard the not so silent admonition he didn't show it, just sighed and closed his eyes again, settling back down. "Sleep well?" was the muffled question and once again Sky was caught off guard, which didn't please him too much. He wasn't used to Jack getting the better of him, especially when the other man wasn't even awake enough to be deliberately working at it.

"Yeah," he replied anyway, a little surprised to find it was true. He couldn't remember the last time he'd woken up feeling as relaxed as he had this morning and the lack of nightmares was an added bonus. It could just have been a coincidence, he thought. Adjusting to being back at the Delta base and the different mindset it required could easily have triggered a night of unsettled sleep; once he'd re-familiarised himself with the base, things would be back to normal.

-----

Much to his dismay though, the nightmares returned the following night, and the night after that, and the night after that, although never to the extent of his first night back. He began to dread curfew, putting off going to bed as long as he could, getting up as early as he could to simply get away. Clearly the night he'd spent in Jack's room had been a fluke, a brief breathing space before the onslaught. He refused to even consider any other possibility, it was ridiculous to think that Jack's simple presence could keep away bad dreams. He stared out the window of his room as he changed into his nightwear and wished that none of this had happened.

"You should talk to him," Bridge said behind him and he spun round with a startled exclamation, shields flaring before he recognised his roommate.

"Bridge, don't _do_ that," he snapped, heart rate returning to normal, the blue light around his hands fading. "I almost blasted you across the room."

"Sorry," Bridge replied, relaxing now that the imminent danger was past. "You know, you're getting good at that."

Sky glanced down at his hands and didn't reply. He hadn't really had much choice other than to learn how to control the offensive shields, not unless he wanted to blast people across the room whenever he was angry or afraid. He couldn't do much about his control when he was unconscious or asleep, but he could get them under control while he was awake.

"You do need to talk to him, Sky."

"Talk to who about what?" he demanded, turning away and throwing himself down on his bed. He wasn't in the mood for Bridge's theories, no matter how well-meant they were.

"Jack and your dreams," his roommate continued undaunted. "The one time you didn't have them was when you slept in his room and you were a lot calmer your first night back after Jack woke you up and spent the rest of the night here. Don't you think that means something?"

"Coincidence," he snapped, picking up his copy of the handbook and pointedly opening it.

"You don't believe in coincidence," Bridge said calmly. "Never have."

Sky remained silent, ignoring his roommate.

"Don't you think Jack should know?" Bridge prompted. "I mean, you guys are pretty serious, right? Well, if you weren't you wouldn't still be together, so that's a stupid question, really. And I've never known you go into something you didn't see going somewhere, so--"

"Bridge!" Sky snapped, bringing his book down on his lap with a sharp _thwap_.

"Right, but anyway, you're serious about him or you wouldn't still be with him, and if you're that serious then maybe you should share this with him. It's not just you anymore, Sky. And working yourself into exhaustion to try and avoid the dreams isn't good for you either."

Sky picked his book up again and resumed ignoring the younger man. Or at least the semblance of ignoring him. He hated unsolicited advice, particularly from Bridge. The younger man had the annoying habit of almost always being right.

"He was really worried about you, you know," Bridge said softly. "While you were on leave? I think he spent more time at your house than he did on base and when he was here all he could focus on was trying to track down anyone who escaped from Kennick Labs, even though the Commander told us not to."

Sky stared at the page he was on, not seeing the words. He wasn't dragging Jack into this, he just wasn't. This was his problem and he'd deal with it, Bridge's emotional blackmail notwithstanding.

"He knew that there wasn't much he could do to help and I think that just made it worse. He hates being helpless as much as you do."

"Shut up, Bridge," he said quietly, fingers tightening around the book in his hands, but the green ranger ignored him.

"Shutting him out isn't going to help," Bridge continued inexorably. "All it's going to do is cause problems."

"Bridge, drop it."

"He wants to help, Sky, even if all he can do is be there. Isn't that what the people you love are for, leaning on when you need it?"

There was a dull thud and Sky stared in non-comprehension at the book that was now lying on the floor by the door, pages furled under each other. He swallowed and glanced over to find Bridge watching him warily. He stood up silently and retrieved the book, staring down at it as if it held all the answers to all the questions he could ever have. He sat on the edge of his bed, not raising his eyes to his roommate.

"Talk to him, Sky," Bridge said softly.

"I can't," he whispered, carefully setting the book down beside him and stared at the floor, fingers clenching and relaxing in the bed covers.

"Why not?" Bridge asked and Sky couldn't read anything in his voice, which wasn't very helpful.

"I just… I can't." He'd already fallen apart in front of Jack more than once, he couldn't keep doing it if he wanted to maintain _any_ kind of self-respect and Jack had taken enough crap from him anyway, not to mention being incredibly patient with the whole damn thing. He wasn't sure he'd have reacted as well if it had been the other way around. And besides, Jack had enough problems of his own to deal with, he didn't need Sky's problems on top of that.

"Okay, so don't talk," Bridge suggested.

Sky looked over at him in confused annoyance. "Make up your mind, Bridge," he said. "Talk to him, don't talk to him, pick one."

Bridge shrugged. "You and Jack aren't always great at the talking thing," he said. "Maybe that's changed, maybe it hasn't, but talking isn't the only way of communicating."

"You're not letting this go, are you?" Sky growled and Bridge shook his head.

"Nope."

"Fine," Sky said tightly and stood up, stalking out of the room into the corridor; anything to get Bridge to shut up and drop the subject. He'd go see Jack, prove that the uninterrupted night he'd spent there before was pure chance and then he could honestly tell Bridge his theory was wrong. He ignored the chill down his spine as he made his way through the hallways, the lights dimmer now that Lights Out had passed. He didn't know why they bothered him so much all of a sudden, they'd never done that before.

He knocked on Jack's door, hoping he wasn't asleep yet and was annoyingly relieved when the doors slid open to reveal a distractingly tousled Jack Landors rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Jack's face brightened when he recognised Sky and he stepped away from the door in silent invitation before Sky could even open his mouth.

"So," Jack said lightly, plopping down on his bed and looking at Sky expectantly. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what're you doing here?"

Sky shrugged. "I need a reason?"

Jack cocked his head to the side, watching him speculatively through narrowed eyes. "Normally I'd say no but I think right now… yeah, there's a reason. I somehow doubt you're here to get naked."

"Is sex all you think about?" Sky snapped, then winced, wishing he could take it back as Jack's expression froze.

"No, actually," Jack said evenly and Sky flinched inwardly. There were times he seriously shouldn't open his mouth.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, hand rubbing tiredly over his face. "I didn't… I didn't mean that, I just…" He sighed and sank down onto the bed. "I need to shut up."

Jack gave him a faint smile, the defensive edge gone as if it had never been there. "Rough day?"

"Rough week," Sky muttered. "I just… I--" he stopped, then forced himself to keep going. "I shouldn't be back," he said hollowly. "I'm a mess, you know? I'm screwing up every time I turn around, making stupid mistakes that even D Squad wouldn't make and practically everything that comes out of my mouth is wrong." He could feel Jack sitting next to him, radiating warmth where their bodies were touching and he couldn't look at him, didn't want to see pity or irritation or anything that would trip him off.

"You're tired, that's all," Jack said, fingers toying with Sky's hair. "We all make stupid mistakes when we're tired, Sky."

"I know, but--"

"When was the last time you slept? And I mean _really_ slept, not just a couple of hours here and there."

Sky tensed and felt Jack's hand still. "Tuesday," he admitted quietly and he could just imagine the surprise on Jack's face, the bemused blinking before Jack assimilated the new knowledge.

"Tuesday, huh?" his boyfriend commented. "Wasn't that when I fell asleep on top of you?"

"Yeah," Sky replied, looking over at him with as much of a smile as he could manage. "And you're heavy."

Jack assumed an expression of mock outrage, punching his shoulder lightly. "No respect, Sky. That's your problem."

Sky grinned, mood lifting with the familiar banter. "There's things about you to respect?"

"We've had this conversation before," Jack pointed out. "I'm pretty sure I gave you all the reasons back then."

"The ability to read without moving your lips hardly counts as a reason, Jack."

Jack graced him with a cuff up the back of his head. "It does when you're reading words of more than one syllable."

Sly laughed, surprising both himself and Jack. Jack grinned, clearly pleased with himself for getting a laugh out of him and Sky let himself lean a little more into the other man, closing his eyes as he began to unwind.

"So," Jack continued, head resting against Sky's, fingers resuming their preoccupation with Sky's hair, "you didn't answer my question before."

"Question?" Sky asked sleepily, wanting nothing more than to just drop off to sleep right where he was.

"Why you're here?"

"To sleep."

"You could do that in your room," Jack pointed out carefully and Sky tensed all over again.

"No, I couldn't," he said softly. "I can't sleep when I'm there."

"Okay," Jack replied, just as quietly. "Shift over. Covers are for sleeping under, not on top of."

Sky frowned at the prospect of having to move but complied anyway. It _would_ be more comfortable under the covers, this was true. He made a soft sound of contentment as Jack settled down next to him and felt himself smile as Jack brushed a quick kiss against his temple.

"Go to sleep, Sky," Jack murmured in his ear and Sky was more than happy to comply.

-----

Sky wasn't sure if he was relieved or chagrined when his sleep that night went by undisturbed; not having the dreams was good, Bridge's theory seeming to have some basis in fact was unnerving. And it wasn't just that night, he spent the next few in Jack's room as well, catching up on all the sleep he'd missed, and not once did he have any of the nightmares that had been haunting him. It was just a matter of time, he was sure. Sooner or later they'd catch up with him whether Jack was with him or not, but he couldn't find it in himself to stop sleeping in Jack's room. It had been scarily easy to get used to falling asleep with Jack, waking up with the warmth of another body lying next to him, and he didn't want to give that up.

But he'd have to, he knew. Sooner or later. Sooner if Cruger had any say in the matter. He wasn't sure how the Commander had missed it so far, but he'd notice eventually and that would be it. He'd be back in his own room and the dreams would be back full force. Selfish it might be, but Sky fervently hoped it would take a lot longer before Cruger realised he was bunking with Jack and not using his own room.

-----

Cruger groaned inwardly as he caught Sky on his way to Jack's room for the night. It was clear where the blue ranger was headed and it meant he couldn't turn a blind eye to it anymore, much as he wished he could. While he personally believed spending his nights in Jack's quarters had been good for Sky, he still had an obligation to uphold the rules and while he was more willing to be flexible on certain things when it came to his rangers, sharing quarters couldn't be one of them, not when he was already disregarding the small matter of inter-squad fraternisation. There had to be a line somewhere.

"I trust you will be back in your own quarters tomorrow night, cadet," he said neutrally, frowning to himself at the flash of fear that crossed the young man's face before he nodded formally and came to attention, staring just past Doggie's ear, not meeting his gaze. He immediately dismissed the idea of conflict with his roommate; Bridge might inspire any number of emotions from Sky but fear wasn't one of them, so something else had Sky afraid of spending the night in his own quarters. He wondered what it was. "Dismissed," he said eventually and Sky nodded once, then carried on his way, posture more rigid than it had been in some time.

Doggie watched him go, then sighed to himself. The rift between himself and his rangers was growing, and he didn't know how to fix it.

-----

The next night, back in his own room, Sky woke silently, sitting bolt upright and gasping for breath. His hands clenched into fists in his sheets and he shivered in the cool air. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. The dreams were back, no doubt about it. Now what was he was supposed to do? He couldn't spend the night in Jack's room anymore but right now that was the only place he felt safe. He didn't know what to do.

-----

Walking through the corridors of the base, finally finished and on his way back to his quarters, Doggie frowned as he saw Sky walking down another corridor. He'd specifically ordered him not to spend anymore nights in Jack's room. It took a moment before he realised that Sky wasn't heading for Jack's room and he followed his blue ranger, confusion warring with curiosity and worry. Where was Sky going?

He was relieved when Sky slipped into the B Squad rec. room, but his relief was short-lived as he finally got a good look at Sky's face. Sky was pale and tense and he was clutching at the mug in his hands as if were a lifeline. He moved away from the rec. room silently, deep in uneasy thought. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Sky was obviously still being affected by whatever had happened during his abduction and the measures they'd taken just as clearly weren't working. He flinched when he realised he'd probably forbidden the one thing that _was_ helping.

One thing was certain, though. To deal with this, they'd need a different kind of help.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Jack paced the length of the infirmary impatiently. Somehow Cruger had caught on that everything wasn't okay with Sky and he'd been dropping hints the size of the Delta Runners that Sky should see one of SPD's psychiatrists. Up until now Sky had refused, before he'd been hit with the ultimatum of seeing a shrink or being suspended pending psychiatric evaluation. Even with that hanging over his head, Sky had held out for reasons of his own. Until now.

He eyed the two strangers in the room warily, they didn't exactly look like psychiatrists; two men, complete opposites: one Asian in a green shirt and glasses with a definite intellectual look, the other blond and in red and looking like he'd be more at home outdoors, both were around their late thirties, early forties. They were talking with Cruger in what was obviously a private conversation, dark green bag sitting ominously on one of the beds, leaving Jack extremely uneasy. He snuck a glance at Sky and grimaced at the tight set to his features, the tension in his shoulders. Well, this was a great start to everything.

Eventually the man in green shook his head and stepped away from the Commander, his companion following suit. Whatever they'd been discussing, they clearly didn't agree and Jack wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Judging by the scowl on DC's face it looked like it might be good, overly optimistic as that thought might be. He tensed as the pair walked over, feeling Sky doing the same at his side.

"Hi," said the man in green, holding out a hand to Sky in greeting. "I'm Cameron Watanabe and in theory I'm here to help."

"In theory?" Jack interjected and the man glanced at him, eyebrows rising slightly.

"Yes, in theory. Until I know more I can't make any promises."

Jack nodded, only slightly mollified by the blunt honesty. But if he didn't know the details, what had he been discussing with the Commander? "No offence," he said slowly, "but you don't look like much of a psychiatrist."

The man in red snorted. "That's because he's not. Any patients he had would need therapy just to recover." He was treated to a disdainful look that Jack was more than familiar with; Sky was very fond of using it when he felt Jack was being an idiot.

"And the person of questionable intelligence behind me is Hunter Bradley," Cameron said, pointedly turning away from his still smirking companion to finish the introductions. "While it's true we're not psychiatrists, we are martial arts instructors from Blue Bay Harbour and we have some familiarity with situations like these. It's possible we can help." His gaze switched back to Sky. "One thing you need to understand though," he continued, "is that if you agree to this it won't be easy. There's even a possibility that it won't work."

"The question is," Hunter finished, "are you willing to take the chance?"

"Haven't heard what I'm supposed to be getting into yet," Sky retorted, arms folded. "No offence but I'd like to know more about what's going on."

Cameron's eyebrows shot up again. "I apologise," he said evenly. "I was under the impression that you had been brought up to speed."

"Not so much," Sky replied, just as evenly.

"So I see. Alright, this might take a while. Is there somewhere we can sit and discuss this?"

As the two moved over to the isolation room's door, Jack resumed his pacing, ignoring the speculative expression on Hunter's face.

"Absolutely not!"

The exclamation spun him back round and he found Sky standing well away from the older man, shaking his head.

"No way," Sky continued. "I'm not going under."

Jack sighed. _Hypnosis_. They'd tried suggesting that before and Sky had refused.

"Look," Cameron said insistently, "I think I know why you're so concerned about going under and I understand where you're coming from, but believe me, you can't hurt me."

Jack felt his own eyebrows shoot up. The guy _was_ perceptive. One of the things Sky had been most concerned about was losing it while he was less than in control, but most of the medical staff had missed that little fact.

Sky shook his head obstinately and Cameron sighed. "Would it change your mind if I told you I used to be a ranger myself?" Sky's head shot up and he stared at the older man in surprise.

"You were?"

"Green Samurai ranger, back in 2003. Hunter over there was the Crimson ranger. I know you're concerned about the kind of damage you could do if this… other personality if you will, comes out, but believe me, Hunter and I can take care of ourselves."

Sky stared at him, momentarily speechless and Jack could see the indecision on his face. He couldn't blame him, this new information changed everything. Former rangers? Maybe this wouldn't turn out so badly after all.

"So what kind of ritual is it?" Sky asked, relaxing a little. Maybe he'd actually go through with this, Jack thought hopefully. He didn't want to see Sky suspended.

"It's an ancient ninja technique, one that helps recover traumatic memories. Among other things. Very few people know it as it's rarely used."

"But you do?" Jack couldn't help asking.

Cameron glanced sideways at Hunter, both expressions carefully blank. "It seemed like something I should know."

There was definitely a story there, Jack thought. But what? He doubted he'd ever find out though. It was all the speculation he had time for because, after a moment of tense hesitation, Sky nodded: a quick jerk of the head, clearly bracing himself to go through with this.

Terse permission as it was, it was enough and the preparations began quickly, giving Sky as little time as possible to dwell on what was going to happen or what might happen. Jack raised his eyebrows at the potion Sky was given to drink, wrinkling his nose as if it tasted weird, which Jack could completely believe given some of the things that had gone in it.

"Are you ready, Sky?" Cameron asked and Sky nodded, tense still but no more than expected. "Good, just remember that we can pull you out at any time if necessary, alright?"

"Alright," Sky replied and he sat down on the edge of the nearest bed. It took a while until Sky was relaxed enough to satisfy Cameron, though; he kept tensing up right on the verge of relaxing and they'd have to start over until finally he was lying propped up on one of the beds in the isolation room, chest rising and falling slowly as if in sleep. Arms folded tightly across his chest, Jack watched as Cameron touched various places on Sky's forehead and torso, voice low as he chanted words in a language Jack didn't recognise.

-----

"How are you feeling, Sky?" Cam asked, focused intently on the young man on the bed and Hunter shifted uncomfortably. He had vague memories of going through this himself and it was just as unnerving having to watch it as go through it. He wondered if that was how Cam had felt all those years ago, having to watch as Hunter exorcised his demons.

"Comfortable."

"Relaxed?"

"Yes."

He hadn't realised Cam had learnt the ritual, although it really shouldn't surprise him that he had. Then again, Cam was very good at surprises, no matter how well Hunter thought he knew him there were times when Cam would do something or say something and Hunter had to re-evaluate everything he'd thought he'd known about his partner.

His gaze travelled over the room as Cam began talking the young ranger through the hours until his body was convinced it was asleep, taking in the details of the room. The blue dog was standing silently on the other side of by the now locked door to the isolation room, as were three other young people; two girls and a guy that most likely made up the rest of the SPD ranger squad. Apart from himself, Cam and Sky the only other person in the room was the red ranger, Jack Landors. Jack had his arms folded across his chest and was currently pacing back and forth impatiently, yet rarely taking his eyes off Cam and Sky. In the end it was the very intensity of his gaze that caught Hunter's attention and he studied the young man thoughtfully. Did Sky know about this? Then again, based on Jack's protective-bordering-on-belligerent attitude and his unconscious assumption that he had every right to stay in here, maybe Sky did. Interesting. How would that work in an establishment like Space Patrol Delta?

Realising he was being watched Jack turned to him, expression one of challenge: 'Move me if you can,' his body language said and Hunter held up his hands in innocence. If Jack felt that strongly about staying he wasn't going to argue; and besides, if Jack and Sky _were_ involved, as he was beginning to think they were, then it was probably better if he stayed. Chances were Sky would need him when this was all over.

Refocusing on Cam and Sky, Hunter winced at the agonised expression on the young ranger's face, hands clenched firmly on the sides of the bed.

"Sky," Cam was saying firmly, "you need to remember this. It's in the past, it's over. It's time to accept the memories and move on." Sky shook his head and Cam frowned, which wasn't a good sign. Clearly this wasn't going the way it was supposed to and Sky's previously relaxed state had vanished. Jack took a step towards them but Hunter stepped forward as well and grabbed hold of the red ranger's wrist, pulling him back. "Don't interfere," he said quietly. "Right now Sky doesn't even know you're here and nothing you do or say will help."

He met dark anguished eyes with what he hoped was a sympathetic expression, but he didn't relax his grip. "There's nothing you can do," he said softly, "and I know that sucks, but it's the way it is. All you can do is believe in him and be here when he wakes up."

Jack's eyes narrowed and Hunter could feel the tension in him, ready to pull himself out of Hunter's grip, but much to his surprise the expected tug never came; instead, the wrist he held between his hands seemed to melt, or dissolve, vanishing from his hold as if it had never been there and Hunter was left with his fingers tangled together as Jack moved away and repositioned himself nearer the bed, arms once more folded across his chest.

Hunter stared at his hands, then at Jack, wondering how the hell the kid had done that. That was when his attention was drawn back to Cam as Jack tensed, gaze fastened firmly on Sky and he didn't like what he was seeing or hearing. The blue ranger's eyes had opened and there was a faint sound, like a buzz or synthesiser running in time with his voice. Jack had paled and his arms were hanging loose at his sides, ready for action if necessary. Hunter took that as his cue and tensed himself, bracing himself for whatever was coming.

Even with the warning he was still caught by surprise as Sky sat upright then all but flipped off the bed, heading straight for Cam, actually reaching him before the realisation sank in and Hunter's blood ran cold as the younger man picked Cam up by his throat, holding him in the air one-handed as ghostly blue light surrounding the pair of them; something resembling a warped ranger suit beginning to cover Sky, gauntlets over his hands and forearms, outline of a helmet appearing round his head, armour covering the rest of his body. Cam struggled in the grip, both hands clamped tightly around Sky's wrist, but it wasn't enough and meant that Cam had no opportunity to break the trance Sky was in.

There was a blur of red as Jack moved, the red ranger interposing himself between Cam and Sky but failing to break the hold. "Sky, snap out of it," Jack was saying sharply. "You're stronger than this, come on!" Silently willing Jack to get out of the way, Hunter felt the build up of energy that came with using his elemental powers, along with the hunt for an outlet. He winced as Jack was tossed into a nearby wall as if he weighed nothing, then, path now clear of obstructions, he let the energy go, crimson lightning that sped across the room, aimed squarely at the… thing that was threatening Cam.

Much to Hunter's dismay there was a fluctuation in the ghostly armour surrounding what had been Sky, the dark form dropping Cam and bending over as if in pain. Desperately trying to pull back as much power as was possible over the short distance, Hunter found in alarm that it wasn't enough. Where one moment had been standing a warrior stronger than anything Hunter had seen before, Sky stood once more, just your average human being, completely unprotected. The crimson lightning hit him almost full strength and Hunter could see Sky's mouth open in a silent scream before he crumpled slowly to the floor.

* * *

Author note: The ritual used in this chapter was originally the brainchild of the wonderfully talented MzDany in her story 'Secret Demons' and is used here with generous permission.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Pushing himself up from the floor Jack looked up just in time to see Sky - back to himself, no trace of the psycho-ranger about him - collapse to the floor, crimson light flickering around him like tendrils of electricity. "Sky!" Scrambling to his feet he ran over to where Sky was lying, barely noticing the rest of his team hammering on the door to be let in. Before he could so much as check a pulse Hunter grabbed his wrist once again and pulled it away from Sky.

"Don't touch him," the older man said quietly and Jack glared at him in fury. This was _his_ fault, if he hadn't been so trigger happy with that lightning or whatever Sky would be fine. "I mean it," Hunter insisted as Jack phased out of the hold and went to check Sky anyway. "He's suffering the same symptoms as electric shock. He needs a doctor right now, not you."

"No thanks to you," he snapped back, stepping back nonetheless and unlocking the door. For once the room had been programmed to be locked from the inside instead of the outside and the medical staff wouldn't be able to get in until he opened the door. He stepped aside as the nurses ran in, carefully wrapping Sky in blankets and manoeuvring him back onto a bed. Conscious of his team around him Jack stayed where he was instead of giving Hunter Bradley a piece of his mind.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Syd said quietly and Jack shook his head numbly. Normally he'd say yes without hesitation: Sky was stubborn and wouldn't let something like electric shock keep him down for long and anyway, with Sky's powers being what they were his body would probably absorb some of the electricity that had thrown at him, minimising the damage; but that was on a good day and even then he wouldn't be able to absorb all of it, let alone now when he was vulnerable both emotionally and physically. How much more could he take before it was _too_ much?

It seemed like forever until finally Doctor Felix came over to them with a progress report and the doctor's earlier disapproval of such a medically untried process was locked away behind his professional expression; grave but with tired eyes. "He's stable for now," the doctor said. "Thankfully the damage is nowhere near as severe as it would have been for anyone else, Cadet Tate's body absorbing some of the energy it was exposed to." Jack nodded, just as expected. For all he sometimes complained about Sky's powers they'd definitely come in handy this time; he'd never complain about them again.

"How long is he likely to remain in the infirmary?" Cruger asked from behind the group and the doctor shook his head.

"I can't tell you that, yet," he said. "Until Cadet Tate wakes up there will be no way to tell whether or not he is fit to return to duty."

"Understood," the Sirian said softly and Jack bit back his anger. Was that all Cruger cared about? "Keep me updated, doctor."

"Of course," Felix replied, inclining his head. "Now," he continued, "Cadet Landors, a word, if you please?" Jack frowned, but followed the doctor anyway, shrugging when Z raised her eyebrows at him in question. "On the bed," the doctor said cheerfully. "This won't take long."

"What won't take long?" Jack asked suspiciously, sitting down warily.

"Just a quick examination," the doctor said mildly. "That was quite a fall, Cadet."

"I'm fine," Jack replied and went to stand up, only to be stopped by a firm grip on his wrist stopping him in his tracks. What was with people grabbing his wrists today? Jack thought in irritation. If he wasn't lucky he'd end up with bruises from all the times he'd been grabbed there.

"Sit," the doctor order and Jack sat, sighing in exasperation, just to show he was complying against his better judgement. "Take off your jacket," Felix continued and Jack rolled his eyes before unzipping the jacket and shrugging out of it. He winced as his shoulders protested the action, then frowned at the expression on the doctor's face. "Turn around, Cadet. I want your back facing me."

Shifting round, Jack sighed again, then yelled at the sharp pain between his shoulder blades. "What the hell was that for?" he demanded, half turning to glare at the doctor before he was insistently returned to how he'd been sitting.

"Just as I thought," the doctor said in satisfaction. "You have some bruised muscles in your back, Cadet, that's all."

"Bruised muscles?" Jack replied incredulously. There was no way bruised muscles hurt that bad.

"Correct. How many times have you been tossed around lately, Cadet?" Jack stayed silent but the doctor nodded anyway. "As I thought," the doctor said again. "I'm recommending a break from your duties; you need to take it easy until the muscles are healed."

"I'm _fine_," Jack protested. "I don't need to be taken off duty--OW! Stop _doing_ that!"

"I trust I've made my point," Doctor Felix said dryly and Jack scowled.

"Yeah, well, _you_ can tell the Commander," he grumbled. "I don't think he's going to take it that well."

"It will only be for a couple of days," the doctor replied calmly. "After another examination you should be able to return to light duty."

Jack sighed. "Can I at least stay here?" If he was going to be off duty he might as well stay here; at least for the time being. And maybe a break from trying to track down whoever had outed them would clear his mind.

The doctor stared at him in surprise. "That has to be a first," he commented. "I don't think I've ever had such a troublesome patient ask to _stay_ in the infirmary."

Jack scowled. "Can I stay or not?"

"You can stay. I can have the nurses make up a bed next to Cadet Tate if you like."

"A chair will be fine, thanks."

"You _are_ aware that you're resting your back, are you not?" the doctor said pointedly.

"Whatever."

In the end, Jack was resigned to the bed, on the concession that he didn't need to switch into infirmary pyjamas. Sitting on the edge of the bed he stared at Sky, lying pale and still in the next bed over. In spite of the fact that he'd all but been electrocuted there were no sign of any burns anywhere; his hair was a little spikier than usual and frankly Jack hadn't thought that was possible. Watching the slow rise and fall of Sky's chest Jack found his mind wandering, eventually coming back to his thus far fruitless search. It wasn't so much being outed that he cared about, but where there was one leak there was another and the odds of the person outing them being the same one who sold Sky out to Kennick Labs were high enough that he wasn't willing to just let this drop.

"How's he doing?"

Jack jumped at the subdued voice behind him and he turned to find Hunter Bradley standing a few feet away, hands jammed in his pockets. "Stable," he replied neutrally and Hunter nodded.

"Good."

Now that he'd calmed down a little Jack wasn't quite so furious with the man; he'd only done what he'd thought he had to and there'd been no way to know Sky would pull out of it on his own, he'd never managed it before after all. Even so, part of him wasn't ready to forgive the former ranger just yet.

"I did what I had to, you know."

"I know."

The silence lengthened and Jack was beginning to wish the guy would just go away already if all he was going to do was stand there, when Hunter spoke again.

"He seems pretty… strong willed."

Jack nodded with a snort. "The most stubborn person I ever met," he agreed. "And he always has to be right."

"Even when he's wrong?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, he can admit when he's wrong. A couple of months after the fact."

"Sarcastic."

"Pushy."

"Obnoxious when he's tired?"

"Always."

They exchanged quick smiles, some of the tension dissolving. "And you wouldn't have him any other way," Hunter finished and Jack nodded.

"Yeah. He's a pain in the ass, but--"

"Your pain in the ass."

"Exactly." Jack eyed the blond man curiously. "So… you and Cameron huh?"

"That's right. And somehow I still have my sanity."

Jack snorted. "I know that feeling."

The conversation continued for a while until finally Hunter made his excuses and left, probably looking for his own significant other and Jack leant back against the pillows, glad for the quiet. Much to his chagrin his back _was_ aching more than he cared to admit; maybe he _should_ just lie down for a while. It would keep the doctor off his case anyway.

He'd only closed his eyes for a minute, really, just for a minute, but when there came a quiet knock on the door it took him a moment to remember where he was and why. He looked over to find Shauna standing by the door and he sat up with a smile, ignoring the twinges in his back that protested his sudden movement. "Hey, come on in," he said. "How's things?"

"Not too bad," Shauna replied, moving over to Sky's bed. "What about you?"

"Me?" Jack asked, a little nonplussed. "Oh," he said moment later, finally catching on. "Bruised muscles in my back. Doc wants me off duty for a couple of days to rest up."

Shauna nodded, then looked down at Sky. "How is he?" she asked quietly and Jack shrugged.

"Stable. They're just not sure when he's going to wake up. It's not so much the electric shock as it was the fact that he was under when it happened. They're concerned that that might have an effect."

"Under?"

"It was a form of hypnosis; trying to get at the memories he's suppressing." Giving Shauna the shorthand account of what had been happening since Sky had returned to SPD, it didn't seem so strange when she sat down next to him on the bed, never taking her eyes off her son.

"Are they likely to send him home again, when he wakes up?"

Jack shrugged. "No idea. I think the doc's reserving judgement until Sky deigns to grace us with his presence." Shauna sighed and Jack immediately felt guilty; that really wasn't the kind of thing you said to your boyfriend's mother, especially while said boyfriend was yet to regain consciousness. "That really didn't come out right," he said hurriedly. "I just meant…"

"I know what you meant," Shauna said with a sad smile. "I just… it was nice, having him home. I don't get to see as much of him as I'd like to."

Jack wracked his brain for something to say. Damn it, he was no good at these kind of moments. What would Bridge say? Or Syd. They were ones who were good with people. "I can try and get him to come round more often," he said hesitantly. "I mean, I can't guarantee it because trying to get Sky to take a break? Not easy."

Shauna brightened slightly. "You don't need to tell me that," she replied dryly. "He's always been stubborn. Lord, the temper tantrums he would throw when he didn't want to go to bed." Jack grinned, mentally filing the information away for later mocking. "He used to fall asleep on the stairs waiting for his father to come home," Shauna continued, eyes distant. "And once he sat out in the rain for three hours because Nick and I were fighting and he didn't want to listen. He was in bed for a week after that." She sighed. "It would be nice to see him more often," she said wistfully. "But I know he's busy. A ranger's work is never done."

"He'll visit," Jack said firmly. "With Gruumm gone we're not so busy that he can't come over for a few hours or so." Family was important, Sky shouldn't sacrifice his just because he was a ranger.

"You too," Shauna added and Jack stared at her in astonishment. She couldn't mean that. "You're always welcome, Jack, remember that."

His hands reflexively tightened in the sheets and he swallowed past the hard lump that had inexplicably got lodged in his throat. He didn't know what Sky had told his mother about him, but there was no way that Shauna could know just what those two sentences meant to him. He nodded jerkily and when Sky's mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a quick hug he closed his eyes and just let himself relax.

-----

Z stopped in the door to the infirmary, hand pausing in mid air as she went to knock on the door. She'd never met Sky's mother but the blonde woman sitting next to Jack could only be one person. They were all familiar with the photo Sky kept in his room and while there was definitely a resemblance, it was easy to tell now which parent Sky took after the most. She hesitated in the doorway, debating whether or not she should go in, when Sky's mother said something to Jack, something she couldn't quite make out, but whatever it was it had a profound impact on her brother; Jack stared at her, expression one of disbelief and… something else, something indescribable.

When Sky's mother put an arm around Jack's shoulders and Jack simply leant into her, again with that indescribable expression, Z felt something tighten in her chest. She'd come back later, she decided. The news could wait a bit longer.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Sky finally woke up a few days later, much to the relief of everyone else, Jack thought he probably should have come up with something witty to say, not wanting Sky to know quite how worried he'd been when 48 hours came and went with no sign of change. Cameron had even tried reversing the ritual which had put Sky under in the first place, with no success, and while Doctor Felix hadn't said anything, practically everybody knew that the longer Sky was unconscious the less likely it was he'd wake up.

Cleared for light duty once more, Jack had spent as much time as he could spare in the infirmary and he was beginning to hate the sight of the stark walls that surrounded them. When Sky got out of here Jack swore that he'd sit on him if he had to, to keep Sky out of this place. He was tired of seeing Sky like this and hovering over him when he had nothing else to do, tired of the helplessness the place made him feel, and yet he couldn't leave; part of him certain that the moment he did so something would change, and not necessarily for the best, either.

"Hey," he said in greeting as Sky forced his eyes open, waiting until the doctor was finished and making sure Sky saw him before he attempted conversation. "How you feeling?"

Sky's mouth worked silently for a moment until eventually he managed to get out "Lousy."

"I'll bet," Jack replied, with a faint smile. "You remember what happened? In the infirmary?"

Sky opened his mouth, then frowned and shook his head.

"Figures," Jack muttered before briefly giving Sky the rundown of what happened. Throughout the recitation Sky's expression remained unreadable but when Jack finished Sky sighed and his head thumped against the pillow in frustration.

"I just want this to be over," he whispered. "Why can't it just be over?"

"Because we don't get that lucky," Jack replied quietly, fingers twining with Sky's. "Did it help at all, the ritual thing?"

There was a tense moment when Sky's expression went distant, as if he were no longer seeing Jack and the infirmary, but something else entirely, then he flinched and paled slightly. "Yeah," he managed eventually. "I think it did."

"Well, that's good, right?" Jack said brightly, fingers tightening around Sky's. "At least now you know something instead of driving yourself crazy over _not_ knowing."

"Yes, because knowing is _so_ much better," Sky snapped back.

Jack simply shrugged. "If you can bitch about it, you can handle it," he pointed out. Sky's snarking was much preferable to his tight-lipped silence so Jack could put up with a bit of complaining and the random insults that were likely to pop up if it meant that Sky was starting to deal.

"Jack-logic. Wonderful," Sky muttered and Jack grinned. Definitely a step in the right direction.

-----

By the time everyone was finished with him Sky was more than ready to throw them out the room so he didn't have to deal with them anymore. He hadn't minded Jack's presence, he'd actually felt better while the other man was there, but Jack couldn't stay with him all the time, even if only because it would eventually grate on both their nerves if that was the case, and having to deal with everyone else was tiring. His teammates he could handle, listening to Bridge's convoluted theories in contentment, while Z entertained him with all the regs violations he'd missed (some of which he dearly wished he'd seen - such as the D-Squad cadet who'd got locked out of his dorm in nothing but his underwear. Extremely colourful underwear at that, apparently) and Syd brought him up to date on base gossip, whether he wanted her to or not.

It was the other visitors he had trouble with, the people he wasn't close to and the fussing left him impatient and seriously considering a breakout. His teammates would hide him, right? He just needed to get away from everyone. At least he was starting to get a handle on everything now, despite that. Sure, he still had nightmares, and if anything they were worse now that he remembered them when he woke up, but paradoxically that was part of what was helping; at least now he knew what he was facing. Huh, he thought, Jack had been right after all, who'd have thought?

When he was finally discharged from the infirmary Sky couldn't wait to leave, apparently much to the amusement of everyone else. There was an awkward conversation with Cameron Watanabe which he'd been glad to cut short; apologies weren't his thing, either his own or from other people and he'd been happy not to have to deal with it longer than was necessary. Then there'd been a talk with the commander which had been even worse: Cameron had been hard enough, Cruger was worse, although he _did_ take a certain amount of satisfaction from knowing Cruger felt guilty and that he'd screwed up; it made up for some of the attitude they'd had from him since they'd outed themselves.

His first day back on duty was quiet, disappointingly so. He'd hoped for some action that would take his mind off everything, but apparently he wasn't that lucky, the day had passed quietly, more so than was usual actually, even in a post-Gruumm SPD. Sitting on the couch that evening, flipping through the pages of a book he'd brought back from home while Jack lay sideways on the couch, ostensibly sleeping, back propped up against Sky's shoulder. When he'd heard about Jack being taken off duty for bruised back muscles Sky had felt incredibly guilty; much of the damage had been his fault after all. Jack, however, wouldn't hear anything about it and when he tried to apologise Jack had glared at him and told him it wasn't his fault so just shut up already. He still felt guilty anyway, he just didn't bring it up again.

"You guys busy?" Z asked dryly, standing in front of them with her arms folded.

"Oh yeah," Jack replied promptly, not moving so much as a muscle. "Real busy."

"Good, you won't mind coming with me then."

"Go where?" Sky asked, closing his book and looking at his teammate with interest.

Z shrugged. "Oh, nowhere much. Just where the person who tipped off Kennick Labs about Sky is."

Jack sat bolt upright, belying the tiredness he'd been complaining of earlier and Sky felt his heart rate speed up. "He's here?" Jack demanded. "He's SPD?"

Z nodded. "Yep. He's also the one who outed the pair of you." She grimaced. "It seems he got surveillance duty a lot."

"Who?" Jack wanted to know, wound tighter than Sky had ever seen him.

"Sergeant Everson," Z replied and Jack swore profusely, causing Sky's eyebrows to shoot up, stunned; Jack wasn't given to casual swearing and his newly discovered vocabulary was colourful, to put it mildly.

"…sonofabitch," Jack finished. "He was blocking me the whole time! Sonofabitch," he repeated for good measure.

"Want to go get him?" Z asked casually, as if the outburst had been nothing more than a calm statement of displeasure.

"Where is he?" Jack responded grimly and Z shrugged.

"Parking lot, as of right now. We've had him under surveillance for the past hour or so. Ready to bring him in?" Sky wasn't sure whether or not he was imagining it when her eyes flickered to him for a moment, but whether the question had been aimed at him or not he was more than ready to put this behind him.

Following Z down to the parking lot, it was to find Sergeant Everson surrounded by Bridge, Syd and two replicants. "Well, well, what have we here?"

Sergeant Everson was actually an older man who'd come to SPD late. Thin, with wispy blond hair and washed out blue eyes, Everson was probably what they had in mind when they came up with the term 'nondescript'. He was the kind of person who would be overlooked by everyone, blending into the crowd. "I could say the same thing," Everson sneered. "After all, they do let anyone into SPD these days."

Sky stiffened, but Jack simply eyed the man coldly. "Yes," he said distantly, "they do, don't they."

Everson's face went a dull red and he made an aborted lunge at Jack before Z's replicants kicked his legs out from under him and pulled him back to his feet.

"Sky," Jack said evenly, not looking at him. "I think this one's yours."

Sky nodded and pulled his morpher out, opening it to judgement mode. "Sergeant Everson, charged with betraying SPD, abetting kidnapping and obstruction of justice, judgement."

The morpher switched rapidly from innocent to guilty and Sky carded the man with ease. Picking up the card he stared at the figure hammering against the confinement shield. Strangely enough, he felt numb, none of the satisfaction or relief he'd expected.

"Do we know why?"

"The usual," Syd replied in distaste. "Money. They were paying him pretty well to spy for them."

"It's always money," Sky whispered. _"Grow up, Sky,"_ he heard again. _"You're so naïve. You think being a ranger is everything."_ Why did it always come back to that?

He looked up as Jack rested a hand on his shoulder and for once he didn't balk at the understanding he found there. "Come on," Jack said, "let's go hand this guy in."

Sky nodded and handed the card over. Jack looked down at it, expression one of contempt, then shoved it in one of his pockets.

-----

"So," Jack said, when Everson was safely locked away and he'd wheedled his way into getting Sky into his room, "glad it's over?"

Sky shrugged. "Don't know. I don't think it's sunk in yet."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Fair enough," was all he said though, sitting down on his bed while Sky lay there, staring up at the ceiling. "At least you know it's over now," he added. "No more waiting and wondering whether there's more trouble on the way."

"True," Sky agreed. "I guess it is good to know it's over."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," Jack replied dryly. "I can't stand all the excitement."

Sky glared at him until the glare softened into a smile. "Thanks," Sky said softly. "You know, for--" he waved his hand in a vague gesture and Jack shrugged, uneasy with the thanks.

"Yeah well," he muttered. "What else was I going to do?"

Sky's fingers brushed against his cheek and he looked down to find the other man watching him seriously. "I mean it," Sky said quietly.

"I know," Jack replied.

There didn't seem to be anything either of them could say to that and the awkward silence was only broken when Sky muttered something under his breath and tugged Jack down to his level. Caught by surprise, it took a moment for Jack to register the warmth of Sky's mouth on his, Sky's fingers curled around his wrist and tangled in his shirt collar. It wasn't an earth-shattering kiss, not one of their hungry kisses or even the lazy ones they'd been indulging in before all of this had happened; this one was barely more than chaste, but Jack didn't care.

Finally, they were making some headway.

* * *

END


End file.
